IMPRESSIONS: This album has special meaning to me because it contains my favourite Fleetwood Mac song "Wish You Were Here". The calibre of the songwriting for about half the album is a little lax and "soft rock" but I have a real soft spot for MIRAGE despite that fact. And there are still some of the best Fleetwood Mac songs to be found on this album: the Stevie Nicks country/western styled "That's Alright" is one of my favourites and Lindsey Buckingham's 50's-sounding "Oh Diane" is sweet and fun. Then, of course, there's the major video hit single "Gypsy" which ranks with their best and the aforementioned sublime "Wish You Were Here" which nobody's knows but, when I play it for them, everyone falls in love with. Fleetwood Mac would return in a couple years with some radio hits and a differing line-up but this album really marks the end of the "second great era" of the band which emerged in the mid-70's.

FACT SHEET: MIRAGE is Fleetwood Mac's 13th album released after the hiatus following the release of their experimental (and commercially disappointing) TUSK album in 1979. In the interim Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie all embarked on solo careers and this was intended at the time to be the last Fleetwood Mac album (at least with this lineup). This was the first Fleetwood Mac album to top the charts since monumental megahit RUMOURS in 1977.

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MISSION STATEMENT

Here in the Dark Forest we will reach under a pile of leaves (almost) every day and pull out a favourite album to listen to. These will not be reviews per se but will feature facts, track lists and personal impressions on much-loved albums.

I strongly hope that you will leave comments relating your personal impressions and experiences related to the albums featured here. The only thing better than talking about music is listening to the music itself and I'd love to hear how this music affects you as well. So please let's hear from you.

ONE SMALL NOTE ON THE TERM "ALBUM"

This is, in fact, the correct term. An "album" does not mean a vinyl record; that term would be "record" or "LP". The term "album" means "an album of songs" in the same way as a "photo album" is "an album of photos". The definition of the word "album" means a collection of songs regardless of the medium on which it is presented. An album can be on vinyl, tape, compact disc or computer file but still remains an "album". Originally the term "album" came from the days of 78 rpm records: several records would be packaged together inside a book-shaped "album" with individual sleeves where you would slide out each record to play. With the advent of 33 1/3 rpm records (the first ever LP being Frank Sinatra's IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS) all the songs from the 78 rpm package were grouped together on one 33 1/3rd rpm LP which continued to use the word "album" even after this first change in format. That is why this blog will use that term.